Explore "The House in Lordship Lane" by A.E.W. Mason on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
THE man on the bench certainly did not recognise the voice and it is doubtful if he heard the words He was occupied. On the ground between his feet were a small pile of strips of sticking-plaster; and now and again his fingers added to it from his brows and the sockets of his eyes. "Father," Rosalind repeated; but the old man was not ready, and the small group stood about him and waited. It was curious to Mr. Ricardo, rather horrible to Rosalind, and quite comprehensible to Hanaud that this sticking-plaster covered no wound; the skin below it was patched and discoloured, but there was no mark of a knife or a blow; and one of these patches, crossing the lips diagonally from a nostril to the chin, showed to what purpose the plaster had been put. His eyes had been hooded and his mouth had been gagged.
He lifted his head and became aware of the group about him. He looked at Ricardo and at Hanaud and at Rosalind, and then sat back and drew in some great breaths of air. Then he looked again at Rosalind, and suddenly barked out with a resentful note in his voice: "Rosalind, eh?"